Jim Hardie is marking a milestone but it’s not something that will be celebrated with a cake and candles.
The 77-year-old Brantford resident is entering his 50th year of flooding the ice rink at Centennial Park on Ellenson Drive.
“Back in 1968, we bought a place up here,” he recalled.
“I was working at Stelco and we got to know some of the people in the neighborhood. One year, I went over by the school and volunteered to help put up the boards for the rink.”
Eventually, Hardie took over the task. He has seen thousands of kids, including his own children and grandchildren, learn to skate on the rink.
“It has been a long run, that’s for sure,” Hardie said.
The city boasts more than 20 neighborhood rinks each winter. They are built and maintained by about 160 volunteers.
Chris Tolhurst is another dedicated neighborhood rink volunteer.
He’s starting his 21st year of maintaining the rink at Prince Charles Park on Herbert Street. But his connection to neighborhood rinks goes back to his childhood.
“I grew up on the neighborhood rinks,” Tolhurst, 48, said. “I used to go to Devon Down; there was a rink at Wood Street park; a rink at Connaught Park.
“We used to play at Prince Charles Park.”
It was on the neighborhood rinks that Tolhurst learned about camaraderie.
“I’m not a good hockey player.” he said.
“When I get on the ice, I’m like a pylon.
“But I’ve always loved sports – baseball and hockey – and I made a lot of connections playing on those rinks.
“You can’t really make those kinds of connections playing video games or sitting in your house all day.”
Tolhurst said that, as a child, he saw volunteers build the rinks he skated on.
“It’s a lead by example kind of thing,” he said of volunteering. “I think it’s all about being a community-minded person.”
Jim Fredenburgh has been building and maintaining the rink at Anne Good Park on Allensgate Road in the Myrtleville/Mayfair neighborhood for 23 years.
“I started back in 1999,” he said. “There was a gentleman who had been doing it for quite some time and I just started helping him out.
“He retired so I took it over and I’ve been doing it ever since.”
Back then, Fredenburgh and a couple of guys worked on the rink every year. But, over the years, more people have stepped forward. He now has a group of about a dozen volunteers.
As the only rink between King George Road and Highway 403, it is well used Fredenburgh said.
“I grew up on a farm and I tried to build a backyard rink but I gave up after two days,” he said. “I now know that it takes at least 20 floods to get it going.
“If the weather is perfect it takes six to seven days and 20-plus floods.”
The city is always looking for volunteers to help with neighborhood rinks. If interested, visit www.brantford.ca/en/things-to-do/outdoor-ice-rinks-and-skating.aspx or call 519-759-4150. ext. 5070.
City officials are also hoping to boost their supply of skates for an exchange program.
Donations of skates can be dropped off at any community center during regular business hours.
To learn more about the skate exchange program, visit www.brantford.ca/en/things-to-do/community-skate-exchange.aspx.
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